


Dreams

by strikencord



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Gen, Idol AU, Trainee AU, Trainee Life, and my fingers wouldn't rest until i got it out, and wanted to write about it, i always found this part of woosang's friendship so sweet, this is based off real events, woosang best friend dynamics, wooyoung extrovert adopts yeosang introvert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26914171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikencord/pseuds/strikencord
Summary: Trainee life was tough on him ; the only thing keeping Yeosang going in the big, scary industry was his best friend. All that comes crashing down when he's told to leave his company, leaving Wooyoung behind.
Kudos: 24





	Dreams

Yeosang bit at his lips, nervously scratching his arms in a (failed) attempt to quell the nerves forming at his stomach. He put his head down, unable to face the quiet of the hallway around him. It was prettier than he remembered, obvious care being put into maintaining the building now that their name was quickly spreading out into the world. Yeosang felt the cold metal of the new benches burn into his skin, as he moved his body around, knowing he wouldn’t be comfortable in this situation anyway. His mind hadn’t soothed since the staff came in to the practice room to summon him to the trainer. In the back of his mind, he had a feeling he knew exactly why he was there, but his blood chilled at the mere thought of it, and he refused to acknowledge the thought until it was spit straight into his face.

He supposed that was why, ten minutes later, as the cold air of the room breathed onto his face, the hard surface of his chair forcing him to sit upright, the disapproving glare of his instructor making him physically _feel_ smaller, making him want to curl into himself, he wasn’t too surprised as the words he had been imagining in his head were spoken (read: teeth clenched) out to him.

“Kang Yeosang. Do you think you have performed well enough this month?”

The harsh, angry tone of his instructor was enough to make him flinch, and he put his head down again, praying his hair was enough to cover the burning shame on his features. He didn’t have to speak. Both of them already knew. His voice was getting scratchier, his moves slower. He didn’t know what was wrong, but something _was_ wrong. And here?

Nothing was acceptable other than _perfect_.

Yeosang mumbled a weak apology out, but it fell to deaf ears. His instructor’s features softened, and the flames in his eyes fizzled to frustration. “You know what happens now, don’t you, son?”

Yeosang nodded, and he weakly got out of his chair and he made his way to the door out of the office. He looked back to his instructor, who gave him a quick sympathetic look. “You’re a talented boy, Yeosang. There are great things waiting for you.”

With the final patronizing blow to his ego, Yeosang stepped out of the office. His body seemed to be working on autopilot as he walked to the practice room to pick up his belongings. As he passed the open door of the break room, he heard loud, almost squeaky laughter echo through the halls, and Jung Wooyoung turned to face him from where he was sitting in a circle of what seemed like dozens of other people, all of them caught in a moment of hysteria. It wasn’t difficult to pick Wooyoung out in a group, he was always the one everyone seemed to have their head turned to. The one who was smiling, bringing laughter out of everyone else, the one who lit up the room as soon as he entered. The one who always had a nice word to say, or a quick joke to sneak in. The fact that he was sitting on top of one of the snack tables with his bright, new white shoes on the marble top didn’t help remove the spotlight from him.

The world seemed to freeze as they stared at each other, Wooyoung picking up from Yeosang’s face that something was wrong. His smile slowly fell off his face, replaced with concern. He kicked himself off the table, and ignoring the protests of the trainees around him, Wooyoung made for the door. Yeosang’s face burned in shame at the shock on his best friend’s face, and unable to face him, ran down the hallway and into the practice room for the last time.

*******************************************************************

Yeosang pushed open the heavy door of the building open, panting, as he took a moment to breathe after his run here and bowed to the woman at admin. Calling his new company a _building_ was generous, he thought to himself after he finished cursing himself for sleeping in, as it was a single floor above a 7/11, but he quickly shook the thought out of his head. They had let him in, giving him a place to practice in, giving him a _chance._ He was grateful enough. He still wasn’t used to the other trainees, but he was making an attempt to make conversation with them slowly. As he walked in to the new practice room, he was greeted by an ungodly amount of sound, the floor seeming like it would break under the intense _thump thump_ of movement as the smell of sweat mingled with the loud breathing of the boys dancing. In the corner, he noticed one of the trainees tapping away on his laptop with his headphones tucked into his ears, seemingly oblivious of the mini earthquake next to him.

As the door creaked open, he looked up and his face seemed to light up at recognition as he saw Yeosang, but he wasn’t sure if Hongjoong was pleased to see him. “Yeosang! What took you so long to get here today? You’re not usually late.” He scolded.

Yeosang looked down. He knew admitting that he slept in wasn’t a good excuse, but in his defense he was having a really good dream, a flashback to a few months ago.

It was warm in his dream, the type of warm that settles around in a comforting hug, dragging you out of the house to explore the wide, wide world around. It was the type of warm that called for shorts and beach trips, for barbeques and ice cream. And so, that’s exactly what they did. Yeosang and Wooyoung were at the park, Wooyoung laughing as ice cream dribbled down Yeosang’s face. Yeosang juggled around a napkin and his ice cream cone as he attempted to clean his chin off, but Wooyoung took a bite out of his ice cream while he wasn’t looking. He smiled innocently before bursting into laughter, and although Yeosang was determined to at least maintain a mask of anger, but he cracked at Wooyoung’s sweet smile, and broke completely as Wooyoung grabbed a napkin to wipe Yeosang’s face, letting out a quick laugh which resulted in both of collapsing into a heap of laughter. Wooyoung. Jung Wooyoung, could do miracles to him.

He missed him. A lot.

He refused to dwell on that thought. Wooyoung was happy where he was. Life was looking good for him, their- _Wooyoung’s_ company (he had to keep reminding himself) getting more and more famous everyday. He would debut, he would make it. He would be successful.

He had to. He had promised Yeosang he would be successful.

Yeosang snapped back to reality as Hongjoong looked at him, his brows furrowing in concern. Yeosang looked at him and shook his head to assure him everything was alright. Hongjoong looked concerned still, but he seemed to brush that aside. “There’s a new trainee joining us from today.” He announced to Yeosang. Yeosang was taken back in surprise. Since he joined, there had been only new trainee, a talented young boy with the vocals of a god. He was anxious to see what the new guy was like, but he assumed that he wasn’t here yet. Yeosang headed to the changing room to change his shoes. He found his locker, and sat down on the wooden bench to slip into his workout shoes. He bent his head down and thought of what the new guy might be like. Was he a dancer? A rapper? A vocalist? As he fixed his laces, he felt something next to him, and he quickly turned around to see someone had placed their foot on the bench, and was changing their shoes too. Yeosang froze. He _knew_ those shoes, he had seen them barely a few months before. They were dirtier now, but he could never forget the loud shriek he heard through his walls at the dorm when the shoes were first unveiled.

He looked up, quickly, and his mouth almost dropped open at the face of “the new guy”. It was the face of an angel, he decided in that moment. It was the face of the person who had goofed off during dance practice, the person who had one day decided to slut drop during vocals training, the person who screamed to him secretly when his senior artists passed by him. It was the same person who had appeared at the top of the list for monthly evaluations time after time, the one who could dance as if his body was oil, the one who could sing like his voice was built from heaven’s first light. It was the same person who had made him laugh when he felt he couldn’t ever even smile again, the one who had protected him, the one who made him loved.

What the _hell_ was he doing here?

Wooyoung smiled at him, his perfect teeth on display, his eyes disappearing into little crescents. “You’re not getting rid of me that easy, Kang.”

Yeosang was shocked, his mouth going dry, and he clearly couldn’t form coherent sentences. “You- I- What- How- What are you doing here, Woo?”

“I promised you, Yeosang. I would be successful, _with you._ Me and you, together. Always.”

Yeosang sat at the bench with his mouth open. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t talk. He could barely breathe at that point. Wooyoung finished knotting his laces, and patted Yeosang on the back. “We’re going to be late for practice, Sangie. Hurry up, I’m waiting.”

As Yeosang bent over to double knot his laces, he couldn’t stop the shock in his face turning into a small smile. Despite everything, he couldn’t help but feel it, that everything would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for checking this out! i wrote this when i was in kind of a melancholy mood. the fact that wooyoung left the company of the idols he looked up to for so much for yeosang is truly something that always amazed me, and i really hope i've managed to do the sheer wonder of that choice of his and woosang's friendship dynamics justice. if you enjoyed, please don't hesitate to comment and leave kudos ^_^


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